As 49 of NJ Transit's most senior rail supervisors retired between January 2014 and July 2016, a group of younger potential replacements, including some who were considered rising stars, left the agency for other jobs.

The AIM AD programs was designed by SEPTA to expand the pool of supervisors who are ready to move into assistant director positions in the agency's operations and engineering, maintenance, and construction divisions.

How do you replace the institutional knowledge and subject expertise of a 40-year employee? You do it through succession planning, which is especially necessary in the transportation industry where senior level managers often have well over 25 years’ experience.

With 42 years of transit experience, including rail and bus operations, Philip Hale will leave behind record transit ridership, lower costs, a new labor agreement and a impending political battleground over the future of the agency.

The transportation industry faces the potential loss of significant institutional knowledge as baby boomers retire. For many of us, a greater emphasis has been placed on ensuring we prepare those who will take over to successfully lead our agencies into the future. A program started by the Orange County Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar is an ideal example of this kind of effort.

Serving for more than 10 years as the T's Deputy GM/chief financial officer, Jonathan Davis directs the financial management and accounting functions of the MBTA, manages the operating and capital budgets, and oversees the collection of all revenue.